


Us Two

by Alliance (Xazz)



Series: Windsteppe Alliance [2]
Category: Flight Rising
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Vingettes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-20 08:24:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19372939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xazz/pseuds/Alliance





	1. Chapter 1

The wind made the bamboo wind chimes clatter softly. Layali had made them. Najaïr had never known anything like  _ wind chimes _ before. With the Bamboo Snakes it was utilitarian or mechanical because of Kala. He’d never seen something to have because it made you happy unless it had another use. Bonten thought it was stupid to have extra ‘garbage’ to carry around with you. Najaïr didn’t totally disagree because it he did hate hauling stuff around. As the biggest of the Snakes other than Kala he always had had to carry everything and any extra thing was something he had to shoulder. So. Not fun. 

But Nadalin just made the wind chime wherever they stayed for more than a few days. She hung it above their sleeping nest and when Bonten complained about she’d just look into his bright green eyes and tell him to do something about it if it made him so upset. Bonten, always more of a whiner than a dooer… never did. Najaïr didn’t mind. He liked them.

He was laid with Layali in their nest. Her slight form was curled against his in the pre dawn light, sleeping soundly as he was watching the wind chime. He liked that she slept so soundly. She said she used to sleep so horribly before, rarely getting a full night’s sleep, rarely sleeping without nightmares. But not with him. He had an arm around her shoulders as she cuddled against him, watching the sway of the bamboo and listening to the chime. He knew Jos was keeping watch a distance off with Green.

He sat up, still looking up when something started to move across the sky behind the leaves of the bamboo. It was a huge thing. Next to him Layali woke with a noise of complaint.

“Najaïr? What it is?” she muttered in Shingari, pulling on his arm. His ears perked when off in the distance he heard the high pitched thunder.

“Get up, c’mon,” he pulled her up.

“Whaaat?” she complained but did disturb their leaf and bamboo nest as she got to her feet, rubbing her eyes.

Using mostly his own magic and wing power he pulled her into the air. “You’ll see. C’mon,” he said urgently. Layali got her wings under her by the time they crested the bamboo tops.

Up this high dawn was more pronounced. The horizon was starting to lighten, the bamboo forest turning almost pink as a soft dawn peeked over the rising and falling mountains of the Ascent. “Look, look,” he pointed up and into the distance.

“ _ Oh _ !” she cried. Out in the distance was a pod of sky whales. Three mothers with two calves and maybe a male. They played high up in the low hanging clouds, the young skimming against the bamboo to reach an itch they just couldn’t scratch. They were soft gray and green with curled and winding markings across their flanks with three sets of pectoral fins and short flukes meant more for speed that allowed them to swim quickly through the sky and clouds.

“C’mon, let’s go see,” and he grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards the pod. She didn’t fight him and when two Wind dragons wanted to fly somewhere they did so at speed. It took them moments to get closer to the pod.

The calves noticed them first and swam close to their gigantic mothers. But the mothers recognized them as the Windsinger’s children, same as they and were unbothered by the two small dragonoids flying between them. Even the babies were nearly as large as Najaïr had been before he’d taken on this form, their mothers truly massive next to them, larger than Imperials, larger than anything Najaïr had ever seen.

Layali let go of his hand to go closer to one of the calves. He just watched curiously and smiled when she coaxed it from the shadow of their mother. The calves were quicker than their mothers with greater dexterity and could almost keep with Layali’s casual flying but were very excited and keen to do so. Najaïr watched for a moment not really knowing what he was seeing. It took him far too long to realize she was  _ playing _ with them. He hadn’t grown up playing with anyone else other than Kala and Jeddie and even that was never like this. He didn’t really know what play looked like. And now he saw Layali doing it and it felt like his hearts were much too large for his chest in a good way? He was a confusing feeling. He quickly flew over to her to play a chasing game with the calves.

Layali was more nimble in the air in this form than he was and didn’t just fly circles around the calves but him too. Watching how graceful she was made him smile. She looked so different from the girl he’d found on the Plateau bleeding from the nose. It made him happy seeing her like this, flying freely through the air, catching both his tail and the calves’ tails as she flitted around them. She made him dizzy and he didn’t want it to stop.

But it did have to come to an end. The pod was moving on. The mothers sang to their children as the sun broke above the low clouds, bathing them in glamorous golden sunlight, beckoning them away from the dragons to follow the pod. Layali called after them in Sinhgari and Najaïr smiled. Then she flew back to him and he felt his skin prickle all over like his scales were raising as she brushed against him.

“That was fun,” she said.

Najaïr’s mouth worked a moment, caught off guard with being asked to speak. “Y-yeah,” he blurted out, feeling really stupid.

“Do you want to go after them?” she asked him, stopping to hover next to him, her butterfly patterned wings barely moving.

“I think Bonten would wonder where I went,” he said.

She shrugged, “I guess,” she said.

“But if you wanted to-- I’d go anywhere with you,” he blurted out.

She giggled. “That’s sweet,” she said. “But we shouldn’t make the “Shard Chosen” any more cranky than he already is,” she snickered.

“Right,” he said. “We could stay out here a little longer,” he said.

She flew a bit closer to him, the clouds beneath them turning the color of white gold. “That’d be nice. I like it when it’s just the two of us. No Snakes. No Bonten,” she curled her rosette patterned tail around his and Najaïr felt both his hearts pounding like  _ crazy _ in his chest. 

“Me too,” he said. They were closer now than dragons could usually get. Only because they were both so skilled at Wind magic could they get within touching range without needing to move forward.

“Najaïr,” she said, sort of looking at the clouds, sort of at him. He was only looking at her. “You know,” she tapped her lips thoughtfully, “There’s a thing my old clan would do- well, the couples anyway,” and he sort of stopped hearing for a moment. All he could hear was the pounding of his hearts. He was able to hear properly after a few seconds, “”Have you heard of such things?”

“I’ll be honest,” he said, “I didn’t hear a thing you said.”

“What?” she seemed hurt.

He grabbed her hand, which surprised her, and pulled her as close as their big wings could accommodate and keep up their slow beats. He put her hand against his chest and she could feel the furious beating of his hearts through his thin skin. “I can barely hear you over the sound of my hearts,” he said softly, the second one only started beating like this when I met you.”

Her face softened. She took her hand off his chest and instead put his hand on her chest. “Mine too,” she said and he could feel the pounding of her hearts in her chest, making her soft, brown, skin thrum under his fingers. He smiled slightly.

“They’ve never done that before,” he said, licking his lips.

“No?”

“No.”

She smiled softly, “You know why?”

“You know why?” he asked, green eyes getting big. She sort of giggled.

“So what I was saying before,” she said. “It’s something those in my old clan did when they found someone who made their body do things they weren’t expecting.” He nodded, he wanted to know. “Just, this,” and she carefully pressed her lips against his. It was a funny feeling but he liked it  _ immediately _ . He didn’t know what it was but it felt  _ great _ and he was sure he wanted to do that again even as she pulled away.

“Oh,” he said.

“What do you think?” she asked him.

“I think one; we shouldn’t tell Bonten about that at all or he’d get real mad,” he said in a sort of staccato sing song tone that made her laugh. “And two; we should definitely do that again,” he continued in the same verse.

She just laughed again, “You’re lucky I like you or I’d say no after that silly voice you just used,” she said and cupped his jaw with both hands and pressed her lips against his again. It felt so nice he forgot to keep beating his wings and they started to fall towards the earth. 

They caught the air in their wings as they broke through the bottom of the clouds. Najaïr wrapped them in a pocket of Wind magic with a hard flap of his wings and kept them levitating so they didn’t even have to fly anymore. He liked that better as she got very close to him, pressing her chest up against his, and kept kissing him.


	2. Chapter 2

Johanna was cautious when she’d heard she had a visitor. A visitor they hadn’t told her the name of. That was… concerning. If it was someone from the clan they’d have just said their name but they hadn’t. She was filled with anxiety that it was someone from Goldfeather or Rhodes, finally catching up with her, or worse; a member of the Crumbled. She didn’t even know if the Crumbled existed anymore but that didn’t make her feel any better. Her lack of knowing made her even more anxious.

What was worse was that they were in her home. Just… No big deal. Just in her home. Meaning they were with Victoria and that made her uneasy. She didn't like others with her child without her  _ knowing _ . 

She got to her house and listened. She could hear Victoria’s voice, chattering away to whoever was inside and now and then a deeper male voice. She couldn't make out what they were saying, she could only hear the sound of their voices. She didn't like some strange male alone in her home with her daughter.

“Victoria, honey,” she called as she opened the door.

“Mommy mommy! Look look,” and she drew to a halt when her daughter came into view dragging along the male she'd heard inside. Her feathered frill flared a little in surprise at seeing who it was.

“Ah-- hi,” Roach said, as awkward about the situation as ever.

“Look mommy! My dada came to visit,” Victoria pointed at Roach excitedly.

Johanna closed the door slowly, “Yes, I see,” she said softly. She stepped closer to them and gently pulled Victoria’s hand out of Roach’s. “Sweetie, give me and your dad a moment to talk, hmm?” she asked.

Victoria puffed her cheeks up in annoyance. “But-

“Tori, why don't you go set up those little robots I bought and you can show Roach when I'm done talking to him,” she said nicely.

“Ooooh. Yeah!” she cried excitedly. “I got some new ones! They're so pretty-” and then she was off. Johanna smiled after her and then looked back at Roach, her smile dropping.

“You didn't tell me you were moving,” Roach said.

She folded her arms, “I didn't think it was a big deal.”

“She's still my daughter-

“The last time you saw her you gave her a  _ knife _ as a gift, Roach,” Johanna still wasn't over that.

“You can never have enough knives,” Roach said like it was a matter of fact.

“She's a child, Roach-

“You don't have to say my name like that,” he said, irritated. “I'm not a child you can scold. You didn't even send a letter.”

“I hoped that would be enough. How did you find this place?”

He scoffed, “Please. Any dragon in and around the Sea knows the story of the lost city of Mu rising up from the depths, or what made it leave. I saw the airship flying over.”

“And you assumed I was there?” she asked, incredulous.

“Well you weren't in that backwater hold anymore. I know dragons. Didn't take much asking to figure it out.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I'm sorry? Was the whole ‘she's my daughter too’ thing not clear enough?”

“The ‘you gave my daughter a knife as a gift’ part,” Johanna said sharply.

“Our daughter,” he said.

“Oh? So you were there helping me raise her?” she asked and his bravado deflated instantly. She stepped closer to him and despite being shorter she was bigger than him. “Us sleeping together and you visiting when you feel like it doesn't make her our daughter,” she said softly, dangerously, tipping her head up to him, nearly pressing her chest against his. He licked his lips nervously. 

“Mommy, are you- oh, ewwwww,” Victoria said when she saw them. “Are you going to kiss? That's gross,” she declared.

Johanna scoffed and glanced up at Roach, “He wishes,” she said and stepped back from him. “Did you set up your little automatons?” she asked her daughter.

“Yes! Come see, dada,” she said.

“Ah- just a moment Victoria,” he said. “I'll be right there,” and he made a little shooing motion at her. She huffed dramatically with her entire body, raised her arms, and went back to her room like she thought they were both stupid for not being more interested in her dragon shaped android toys. “You don't have to be so angry with me,” he said quietly. “I can come more often if you want-

“Save it,” she said, holding her hand up.

“Yeah but-” he huffed in annoyance, “I thought you didn't want me around.”

“I don't,” she said.

“So you don't but you're mad I'm not around,” he grabbed her shoulder. “What the fuck do you want from me then?”

“Something you can't give me. You're cute, and young, but have nothing for us,” she said dismissively.

That annoyed him. “I could-

She brushed his hand off her shoulder. “Until Tori is as important to you as  _ Razikale _ then we have nothing to talk about,” she said dismissively.

“Ah-- how do you?”

“I know dragons too, Roach. More than you. You think I don't know everything about you? Please. I'm an old woman, not a fool,” she half turned away from him. “Go play with my daughter, she's waiting for you, and it's the least you can do.” 

She didn't look at Roach as he stood there before he sighed softly, realizing he'd been beat and probably fucked up spectacularly, before he went to find Victoria. Johanna sighed softly when he was gone.  _ This _ was exactly why she just liked them young and dumb. The smarter ones always gave her trouble.


	3. Chapter 3

Tyberion looked over his shoulder when a group of birds took off, spurred by a loud shout coming from inside the newly built, open air, pavilion. It was two words and told you all you needed to know. A simple, punctuated “GET OUT!” of intense frustration and irritation. Tyberion frowned and looked back at the older Wildclaw named Saturn he was training with. “Ah- I better go,” he said.

“You'll never regain your old ability if you keep interrupting your training,” Saturn said dismissively.

His scalp prickled in his dragonoid form like trying to make his crest flair. “There's more to life than killing,” he said. She scoffed. He rolled his eyes and left her, putting his sword away at his hip and going to the pavilion.

The pavilion was technically four sides but the walls were made of bamboo with intricate lattice work for windows with paper constructed doors. Dragons were still leaving when he appeared and he saw Ars standing just inside the main doorway. “What happened?” Tyberion asked him.

“it's stressful being a Progenitor reborn,” Ars frowned understandingly. 

Tyberion frowned as well. “You dragons ask too much of her. We're not leaders. We're just dragons from a swamp clan.”

“For now,” Ars said, neatly putting his claws in the wide opening of his robe. “I have patience for such things, the others not so much.”

“I told you to get out,” Nadalin's voice snarled from nearby. “That means you, Ars-- oh, Tyberion,” she deflated slightly, happy to see him, her drawn and angry eyes softening.

“Are they giving you a hard time?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she huffed angrily. Are just chuckled. “So I did what you suggested and yelled at them to fuck off when they made me angry.”

“Feels good, right?” Tyberion asked.

“Yes. What are you still doing here, Ars? I told everyone to get out,” she gave her predecessor’s brother a look.

“I will talk to them about being less pushy,” was all Ars said, then he leaned over and gave her a Wildclaw kiss on her cheek and left.

“Uhh! I hate him so much,” she cried once he was gone.

“What? Why? He's so nice,” Tyberion asked and closed the paper door.

“Exactly! He's so nice and understanding! He doesn't even get upset at my outbursts. He's impossible to be angry at: I hate him,” she said moodily and folded her arms irritated. 

“I think he does that on purpose,” he said gently and pulled her away from the outer wall. The pavilion, despite the walls, was very bright and airy, and had a central chamber with access to the sky. “He's very old. He's had plenty of time to learn to be kind and understanding.”

“I guess,” she said, pursing her lips. “And how is Saturn?”

“Still obsessed with making me ‘as I was’, whatever that means. From how she talks about Tyberion the First I take it he was not the nicest or kindest sort. I don't think I want to be like that,” it worried him sometimes.

She squeezed his hand, “You don't have to be like anything you don't want to be,” she said. “At least you aren't some damn reincarnated Progenitor and everyone expects you to act all proper and patient all the time. I don't even have time to draw anymore!” she flopped down onto their bed dramatically, her leather wings splayed out behind her. “I haven't seen Helida in weeks either,” she looked to the side, upset.

Tyberion sat next to her. “I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better Saturn is so hell bent on retraining me I hardly get to do anything I enjoy either.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Spend time with you for starters,” and he touched her face gently. “I barely see you.”

She frowned, “I know. I'm sorry.”

“It isn't your fault,” he stroked her cheek with his thumb.

She sighed. “It feels like all I do is sleep and listen to ancient dragons try to teach me things I don't care about.”

“We could stop? We don't owe them anything,” Tyberion reminded her.

She got a far away look in her eye. “But all those dragons,” she said softly. “They were so  _ happy _ when they saw me. This clan was dying before. It's alive again because of me.”

“I guess,” Tyberion said.

“I'd feel guilty if I took away all that joy, Ty. I know it only feels hard now. Once I'm used to it it won't be so difficult,” she sighed tiredly.

He just sat there, stroking her cheek. “I love you,” he told her gently.

“I love you too,” he loved the way her entire moved to express that too. How it radiated out of her smile like a warm fire. She put her hand over his.

“I learned a new trick recently,” he said, his heart starting to beat harder. It felt odd not having two hearts, it always felt like his single one beat harder and faster to make up for it. 

“Oh yeah?” she asked, “From Saturn?”

He scoffed, “I'm pretty sure all her feathers would fall out if she knew I had learned this. She looks at me at once like a child and like the dragon who taught her everything.” Nadalin giggled. “No, this I learned from our actual clan member.”

“Ah, so something practical, useful, and probably actually important for a young dragon to know,” she said, smiling slightly, but not knowing what he was doing. The former Cypress Hall was much more singularly industrious than the former Windshear Caravan. Members of the Hall could take care of everything themselves while the Caravan relied on each other. Neither was better than the other but it led the dragons formerly of the Hall to know a greater variety of things and not just a lot about one thing.

“Well… Sort of,” Tyberion said and blushed a little.

“Who taught you the trick?”

“Gemini-

“Can't trust a single thing he says, you know that,” she teased him.

“Well Sobek said the same thing. Aya backed them both up too, so I'm inclined to believe them.”

“Oh really? Well that's something,” she said. “So I know about this?”

“No… Or, I don't think so.” He'd be a bit upset if she did honestly. 

“Ah. Well you going to show me?” she asked, moving a bit on the bed, rustling the covers, curling her wings back up towards her body. Her previous annoyance was gone now.

“Sure. I hope you like it,” he said and took his hand off her face. His tail and wings twitched nervously as he sort of propped her knees up. She just looked at him curiously.

“I already know this trick,” Nadalin snickered as he opened her legs and knelt between them.

“Oh, this is different,” he assured her.

“Too bad, I rather like that trick.”

“It’s as good,” he promised and pulled down her pants.

“I dunno. That’s like my favorite trick,” she giggled and laughed louder when he tickled her under the knee. “No fair!” she yelled. Tyberion just grinned and kissed the side of her knee as apology.

“We can do that after if you don’t like this one,” he promised her, admiring the soft tone in her calf.

“Or if I do like it?” she asked, teeth bright in a smile at him.

He snorted. “Well, yeah,” he scoffed like that was even an option. She jiggled her leg and used some of her magic to pull her underclothes off and tossed them away with a flick of her foot to land in the opposite area as her shorts. Tyberion kissed the inside of her knee and then slowly down further. Down the soft inside of her thigh. She made a curious noise and he knew he’d done it right when she sucked on her teeth and held back a moan as he put his head down between her legs.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Von woke up because he was alone in bed. He grumbled and scratched his horns around the base a little, ruffling his blonde hair. “Spay?” he asked in a groggy tone, blinking in the twilight light of their home. No answer was immediate forthcoming. He yawned and stretched with an annoyed whine he was waking up alone. Where was his useless mate?

He rolled around on the bed and clambered over the blanket. “Spayarrr,” he called, a bit louder, but refused to get out of bed. Instead he just sort of flopped onto the soft sheets, his tail curling lazily, humming in annoyance. He scratched at the sheets and squeezed them between his strong hands. “Spayar!” he called again, now much louder.

Something outside the bedroom shattered. It sounded a lot like a ceramic jar. A moment later the door opened a little, spilling a sliver of warm light across Von’s face as he was sprawled across the bed. “Von, you’re up. Was I too loud?” Spayar asked. In the warm light Von could see he had new growth in his horns. 

“No. You just weren’t here. What are you doing?”

“Oh-- working-

“BZZT!” he cracked a bit of lightning across his teeth to punctuate the buzzer sound. “Wrong answer.” He dragged himself up to a sort of kneeling position, the long night shirt he wore sagging low across his chest. He ran his hand through his messy blonde hair tiredly. “You’re coming back to bed is what you’re working,” he said.

“Vonny, I’m working on something important.”

“Bzzt!” he mostly used the snap of lightning to make the buzzer noise. “I’m more important, aren’t I?” he asked and let his arms fall by his side knowing he was looking very cute with his shirt showing off a lot of his chest. Spayar was basic as rain. He knew it worked too when his wings fanned out a bit behind him. “Come back to bed. It’s much too lonely without you,” and he beckoned with a curled finger. 

Spayar wavered. “I did leave a mess out there,” he said.

“You can clean it up in the morning. Get your black ass in here,” Von said sternly.

Spayar was moody about it but did. He snuffed out the light outside and as he passed through the doorway dropped the new growth out of his horns and around his hands so the dead vines scattered onto the floor.

Spayar took a knee in the bed. “Really, did the sound wake you?” he asked.

“No. I missed you,” Von put his hands up to Spayar’s shoulders. “I don’t like it when you make me sleep alone,” and he pulled on Spayar’s shoulders as he lay back on the bed.

“I figured I left you well exhausted you wouldn’t notice,” Spayar said, trying to be charming, his teeth and eyes the only part of him Von could see well in the twilight.

“You didn’t try nearly hard enough for that,” Von said, running his hands across his shoulders, pushing off the robe he wore over his nakedness.

“Is that a challenge? My love?” Spayar asked and dropped a kiss against his mouth.

“I think you rise to face any challenges, so yes.”

“Well-

“Yes yes, I know the joke. Something is rising. Don’t be such a dad, Spayar,” and that made them both laugh.

“I’ll come up with some new material for you, my love,” Spayar said  against his mouth before kissing him deeply. Von gave a little gasp against his mouth when Spayar pulled his legs around his waist. 


	5. Chapter 5

Aya liked when she had little ones at home. It made her happy to dote on her children and unlike Gemini when she told them to do something they usually did it. It didn’t hurt at all that she and Gemini made  _ adorable _ babies and that made her love them even more than she would have if they’d been ugly. This time around the gods had blessed them with a three egg nest and she was with two of her children who were the spitting image of Gemini only were both roly poly coatls like Aya was. Her Wildclaw daughter was busy sleeping after trying to keep up with her brothers.

She was humming to them, rocking with them soothingly. She was trying to get the little rambunctious hatchlings to take a nap like their sister. One of them was getting droopy eyed but the other was stubbornly staying awake. She just kept humming musically, waving her rune covered wings behind her head in a way that was slightly hypnotic. The first one made a little noise, yawned a big wide yawn, and promptly fell asleep. She set him down gently but kept rocking her last hatchling.

He flicked his tongue at her and she stuck her own tongue at him. That made him chitter a giggle and paw at her chest and arms. She shifted on the mat she was sitting on, holding her hatchling close and cooing and humming to him to get him to sleep like his siblings. He yawned widely and licked his lips sleepily. She smiled, humming softly, sweetly, and his eyes started to droop.

She gave a loud squeak when the screen door banged closed. Her children were immediately awake. “Gem!” she hollard, angry, and tried to shush them and get them to nap again. But there was no helping it. The girl was up and pounced on her brother and they startled to tussle. She huffed a sigh in defeat and put her third one down so they could play and they were content to roll around on the floor.

She stormed out of the nursery. “Gem!” she barked, finding him stepping out of his boots after hanging up his bow.

“What?” he asked innocently.

She walked over and snatched his hat off his head and smacked him in the face with it. “How many times have I told you to not let that damn door slam closed?”

He grimaced, “It’s new. I’m not used to it,” was his only excuse.

“It’s been months. You should be used to it,” she was annoyed with him. “You woke the children. I had  _ just _ gotten them to sleep.”

His grimace was apologetic this time. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I--” he sighed, “I have a lot on my mind right now.”

“And what’s that?” she asked even as he opened the screen door briefly to check outside and closed it quietly, looking at the place where the door touched the jamb.

“Relic,” he sighed.

“What’s wrong with Relic now?” she asked. Relic was Gemini’s apprentice and very nearly like a son to her. She also knew Relic had a crush on her mate which she thought was sweet but could also see how it was difficult.

“I don’t know what to do with him, Aya?” he sighed and went into the house. He washed his hands and put his hair under the faucet briefly to let the dust and twigs run off his hair. He grabbed a hand towel and used it to catch the water on his neck. “He’s getting worse. I swear he can’t shoot a damn arrow if I’m even  _ looking _ at him.”

“Then don’t look at him?” she suggested unhelpfully.

“Yeah. That’d go over great,” Gemini grumbled. “Should I just tell him?”

“Tell him you know?” she asked. It was one of the worst kept secrets amid Aya and Gemini’s friends that Relic had a horrible crush on Gemini.

“Yeah. You think it would help?”

“I think he’d be very embarrassed, dear,” she touched his arm.

“I know,” he sighed tiredly. “I just don't know what to do. I even set him up with someone and that ended.”

“He's an adult, Gemini, you don't need to coddle him anymore,” she said, putting a hand on his chest.

He frowned. “He's my responsibility, Aya.”

“You aren't  _ his _ father, Gem. Johanna didn't expect you teaching him to be a burden to you forever.”

“I know. I just… Love him, you know?”

“I know,” Aya said gently and patted his arm. “He's like a son to me too. I don't want to see him hurt anymore than he's already hurting himself.”

“But I shouldn't tell him I know?”

“No,” she said.

He sighed. “Okay. I know you're right. I just don't know what to do about him.”

“Relic will have to figure that out himself,” she said. “You didn't ask him to crush on you. He did it to himself. Now he's got to find someone else. You have other things to worry about?”

He rose a brow at her and looked very interested as she leaned in like she was about to kiss him. “Like?” he asked.

“Putting your children down to nap,” she said, pressed a hard kiss to his mouth before kicking his self deprecating tail towards the nursery to help her wrangle their actual children.

 


	6. Chapter 6

The workshop was filled with wooden shelves all filled with hundreds of identical sets of pottery. Cups, plates, platters, bowls, cups, mugs, and vases. Some were glazed or painted, others were drying. It like being surrounded by a forest of ceramic. Vex stepped lightly through the shelves, holding her wild curly hair out of fear its sheer mass would knock something over. She wasn’t sure if the sound would make her more upset than Chase being upset with her. He’d never been upset with her before so she didn’t even know what that looked like but she knew she didn’t want to risk it.

She found Chase to the side of the building before a series of great, open, windows that overlooked the open sky. She recognized the curtains he had hung up and gathered to the side. She’d made those! They had little white cups patterned into the weave of them and were a pleasant dark green color with golden dots. Chase was bent over his pottery wheel, shaping a tall vase with an impossibly thin, wide, spout. Behind him sitting on little pedestals were five others that looked the same as the one he was working on. So something for trade. 

He paused and wiped his brow with a tired sight. It let behind a clay mark on his forehead and he wiped at something on his beard that left a streak of clay as well. Vex giggled, thinking he looked very silly all covered in clay. He perked up and looked around to see her standing between the ceramic racks. “Vex,” his mustache curled upward in a smile.

She flitted over to him. “You’re all messy,” she said in her soft voice and leaned over him with a handkerchief and wiped his face and beard off.

“Ah, yes. It happens when working with clay,” he said sheepishly and rinsed his fingers in the water by his wheel.

“You’ve been working here all day. It’s time to come out now,” she said, still touching his face, smoothing her thumb over his well brushed beard.

“Ah. You want me home, huh?”

“I think it is fair you get to watch the children sometimes,” she said. His eyes glazed over in a happy way.

“Right. I’m sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t spend so long in the workshop when we have so many little ones around,” and he got up. As he did he pressed a kiss against her mouth. She kissed him back. She’d learned to love this moment. When they’d first started she’d been so shy and hesitant and she still was rather shy but in this she had no shyness. Kissing Chase was the one thing she couldn’t mess up, couldn’t make a mistake with, was something she felt she was truly good at.

She got a little carried away with it and put her hands on his shoulders. He rubbed his nose against hers sweetly, smiling, and kissed her lightly before pulling away. “We’ll be here all night if you keep that up,” he said.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” she whispered.

He snorted. “You were just the one wanting me to come home,” he reminded her with a sweet grin.

“Oh--- right,” she said, feeling a bit embarrassed and slid her hands off his shoulders. He kissed her cheek, took her hand, and they left the workshop. She smiled when they got home and were greeted by the excited and happy meeping of their children she’d left in their nursery nest while she’d gone to get Chase.


	7. Chapter 7

The Golden Rule was quiet this time of day. It meant Jessabelle could spend that time catching up on things she neglected while actively working, like counting inventory or responding to messages from her trader friends. It was times like this she missed Dodge. She was still upset about what happened to him and hoped maybe, one day, he could come home. She knew that would never happen. That horrible little creature they’d found out in the Field of Reeds had basically killed him with a single bite. That was why there had been a rule about going into the Field of Reeds, about taking things back from it. The weakness of a strange hatchling had really done them all in.

She realized she wasn’t actually looking at her stock of metal beads because she was thinking about Dodge and that in turn made her think about the other male that had been so important to her. He’d just left and never come back. She felt sort of bad she’d basically driven him away from the Hall but he’d needed to get it through his thick, fat, head, that he was scum. She squeezed her yellow eyes closed tightly, willing herself to not think about Amun. He’d been gone years. She shouldn’t have been thinking about him.

The door of the Golden Rule opened, the little bell ringing. “Hello, welcome to the Golden Rule, how may I help you?” she pulled herself together to greet her customer.

“Hello, Jessabelle,” said a familiar voice that made her heart stop.

She turned around and saw the familiar face of Amun, the runic shapes on his horns curling down his jaw now and loaded with bags and sacks and satchels full of who the hell knew what. He was in his dragonic form which was… odd. He normally only took that form briefly and rarely showed up not as a Wildclaw. She’d forgotten how handsome he was. “Amun?” she asked, at first confused and then, “I thought I told you to fuck off,” she snarled.

He put his hands up defensively. “Look-

“No  _ you _ look you asshole! Get out of my shop!” she cried and flared her great blue wings.

“Will you just give me a second-

“No! Get out. Get out!” and she flapped her wings at him, hitting him with the delicate wing feathers.

He grabbed her wings by the joints. “Stop that!”

“Get out of my shop!” she howled.

“I’m sorry! Gladekeeper’s beard at least let me apologize lady!” he cried.

A bit winded she stopped her assault. “Excuse me?” she asked, incredulous.

Still wary of her hitting him with her wings he held onto those. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Back in the Hall. I was… pretty horrible to you and was too self absorbed to realize how cruel I was. I don’t know if you’ll forgive me, and I don’t expect you to but I just needed you to know. You deserve to know I regret what I was like those years ago.”

“And and you’re magically different now?” she scoffed.

“Considering it’s been almost ten years, yeah? Dragons change, Jessabelle,” he said. “And I am so sorry for what I put you through when all you did was care about me. I didn’t realize I had something good and was more invested in someone who never wanted me.” He looked down a little, “I guess I know how you feel, somewhat. Layali was never as bad to me like I was to you.”

Jessabelle’s wings relaxed and he finally released them. This wasn’t the Amun she remembered. He was different. He was sincere and most of all he was  _ talking _ . Amun was always a dragon of few words before. Single word answers, rarely spoke more than a sentence or two at once. This was something she’d never seen in Amun before.

“I’ve gotten over you,” she lied.

“That’s fine,” he said, “I’m happy for you. You still should know I know I was an absolute jerk to you and I’m trying to be better than that. I really am.”

She eyed his bulging bags. “What’s that you got in those sacks?” she asked him.

He smiled slightly. “Always to business, eh?”

“Well I’m not sleeping with you because you’re a fucking idiot who doesn’t understand how one time deals work,” he winced but didn’t disagree. “And I accept your apology but I won’t really believe it until I see it. So until then; you’re a potential business trader.”

“Very fair,” he sighed a little. “I have quite a bit of stuff. You may have any and all of it you want, as always.” He started to take his packs off.

“Not out here,” she said sharply. “This isn’t that little hut in the swamps anymore, Amun. This is a respectable place of business. Bring it into the back,” and she beckoned him behind the counter. He smiled a little and followed after her.


End file.
